Alexander Kremer was born on July 21, 1958, in the small Russian town, Repino, on the Gulf of Finland. Not surprisingly, Repino was the country home where Russia's greatest artist, Ilya Repino, completed many of his best-loved paintings. These surroundings have profoundly influenced Kremer, instilling in him at an early age an intense sense of the quiet natural beauty of Russian landscapes and their changing seasons. However, he was not just born near great artistic tradition, he was born into it.
Studied painting from 1977 to 1982 at the Mukhina Art Institute, the second oldest fine arts institution in St. Petersburg founded by Baron Shtiglits in 1879. Some of his professors at the Institute included great Soviet painters such as Andrei Yakovlev, Andrei Mylnikov, Anatoli Levitin, Aleksandr Blinkov and Petr Fomin.
As a professional artist, Kremer is developing a unique position in Russian art with his ability to combine traditional Russian realism with more contemporary styles and themes. He is already recognized as a master artist of winter landscapes, and, in particular, of how mood and light pervade them. However, Kremer uses these same strong techniques in painting portraits and still-life. He often paints his daughter, Elena, who, also, frequently models for other St. Petersburg artists. Occasionally, Kremer takes time to participate in other artistic media. He excels at watercolors, wood carving of ships, tobacco pipes and boxes and makes the occasional piece of jewelry. His wife is a master craftswoman whose folk art-decorated boxes (palekh) are in the Folk Art Collection of the Russian State Museum.
Alexander Kremer started exhibiting in Russia and internationally in 1985. His paintings have been shown regularly in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Helsinki and Germany. Kremer has, also, participated in major exhibitions in Athens, Tokyo, Paris and the United States. Furthermore, his works are in the permanent collection of the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts (the Repin Institute) and in many private collections throughout the world.
Today, Kremer lives with his wife and daughter, splitting their time between their home in Repino and their apartment in the heart of St. Petersburg.
